China's total retail sales reached 2,961 billion yuan (about 365.1 billion US dollars) in the first half of this year, an increase of 13.2 percent year-on-year, according to statistics released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The total retail sales of consumer goods in June grew 12.9 percent over the same period of 2004.

In the first six months of 2005, the urban retail sales of consumer goods was 1,988.2 billion yuan (about 245 billion dollars), an increase of 14.2 percent, while the retail sales of consumer goods at or under county levels stood at 972.7 billion yuan (about 119.9 billion dollars), an increase of 11.1 percent over the corresponding period of 2004.

The retail sales volume of food and clothing increased by 16.9 and 20.5 percent. Petroleum and related product sales rose 37.4 percent.

Source: Xinhua